


Icing on the Cake

by CheerUpLovely



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Cupcakes, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Male-Female Friendship, Pregnancy, Slow Burn, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-09-25 16:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9828935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheerUpLovely/pseuds/CheerUpLovely
Summary: Queens Cupcakes is run by Oliver Queen, with the help of his sister, Thea, and his good friend, John. He runs a good business, has a quiet life, a good client base, and keeps his regulars happy.Until one day, his best customer breaks down in tears over an extra cupcake and his whole world is flipped upside down.





	1. September

Most tables in Queens Cupcakes had been taken, which was unusual for the early morning. They were used to the clientele of the morning commuters on their way to the nearby train station, but today they were busier than usual due to a problem on the train line. It mean their morning rush was busier, and Oliver had needed to call both Thea and John in to help with the customer demand.

 

Mostly it was coffee orders, which Oliver wasn’t to thrilled about. Sure, they made great coffee, but they were better known for their cupcakes which was his real forte. Coffee orders were for disgruntled people whose train had been cancelled and they just wanted to sit somewhere warm until the next one was leaving. They didn’t have any real interest in the place or the menu, or what the specials were - which was a waste of him getting up at four in the morning to prep them. 

 

It was why he was happy when he found himself at a table seating one of his regular customers. 

 

Felicity worked in the office building across the street. He wasn’t sure which office floor she was on, but she came in every morning and ordered the Cupcake of the Day without fail. They never got much time to talk, but she was a sweet girl, a few years younger than him with one of the best smiles he’d ever seen. When she did get to talk, she talked a lot, always seemed unable to stop herself, but it was something he’d grown to lo--- _like_ about her turning up every morning. 

 

Circling around two commuters who were discussing synergy and sales figures without any appreciation for the whipped cream on top of their lattes, he stopped by the table with the frizzy ponytail that had been attacked by the weather outside, setting down the two packaged cupcakes with far more care than he’d put into the other customers.

 

“That’s our special of the day, a Caramel Swirl, and an extra Double Chocolate Surprise to go. Sorry about the wait,” he added, with a little regret that one of his regulars had needed to wait longer than usual for her order.

 

“It’s okay,” she replied, eyes down on the table as she pulled the boxes towards her.

 

“Anything else I can get you?”

 

“Can you fix lives as well as you can fix icing?” she asked quietly, staring at the delicate cakes before her. She wrapped her hands around them carefully, and he noted her bright pink nail polish standing out against the top chocolate cake. Part of him filed away the thought for a Raspberry chocolate mix for his menu next week, but he was mostly focused on the severe lack of his usually bubbly customer.

 

“Are you okay?” he asked, his fingers skimming the edge of the table.

 

Oliver expected a ‘no’. He even expected her to take back the comment and make her exit. 

 

H e didn’t expect her to burst into tears on the spot.

 

“I’m going to get so _fat_!” she wailed, pushing the cake casings away from her and pressing her face into her empty hands. 

 

With a cautious glance at the other customers around them, who had no care whatsoever for the very upset blonde at the back table, he sat down in the chair next to her. “From one extra cupcake?”

 

She shook her head, not surfacing from her hands which somehow made her cries louder instead of stifling them. “I’m going to gain so much weight, and none of my clothes are going to fit. And my feet are going to swell, and I’m never going to be able to wear my shoes again!” she listed off, each item sounding like it was causing her more and more pain.

 

This time Oliver reached across, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. “Okay, okay, calm down. It’s _just_ a cupcake.”

 

“I can’t do this on my own,” she insisted helplessly. 

 

“Are you sure you can’t do it alone?” he asked with a thread of confusion in his tone. “Because I’ve seen you eat one of these in, like, ten seconds before.”

 

At that, she did look up from her hands. If he hadn’t seen her on a daily basis, he wouldn’t have imagined this death glare to belong to the same woman who would chirpily tell him about the squirrel that often visits the window by her desk. (The squirrel is always disappointed by the lack of nuts, but she’s allergic. He remembers that especially because he started to make a nut-free option to as much of his menu as possible immediately after).

 

But she was still glaring at him regardless. “In a good way,” he stumbled back on himself quickly. “Like...I’m sure that’s a really good skill to have.”

 

The tears started again at the same volume, and he cleared his throat, looking around awkwardly.  The morning crowd was starting to thin out, probably an improvement with the rail situation, and while there were no free tables there at least wasn’t a queue out the door and Thea no longer looked like she wanted to grab a customer and scream that she was going as fast as she could. “Look, I’m getting my break in a few minutes. You’re obviously having a bad day. If you want someone to talk to, I can get you a free coffee.”

 

At first, his offer seemed to brighten her up. But then her face crumpled once again. “I haven’t had coffee in a month.”

 

“But I thought you loved coffee?” he asked her. After all, she almost always ordered one with her morning cupcake.

 

“Someone broke my coffee maker,” she sniffed indignantly. “ _Violently_.”

 

He tried not to laugh, though he suspected that she might have been the one responsible for the damage to said coffee maker, but he did offer her a smile as an alternative. “I can get you a coffee if you’d like a coffee?”

 

She shook her head, her brightly-colored fingernails starting to toy with the cupcake packaging instead. “My doctor says I’m not allowed caffeine.” 

 

“How about a hot chocolate?” he suggested, leaning in a little closer and dropping his voice. “I’ll even throw in some extra marshmallows on top.”

 

“You’re busy, you don’t have to sit here and talk to me,” she shook her head.

 

“Maybe not, but I can’t allow a customer to leave my store unhappy, so sit tight. It’s on the house.”

 

\----

 

“By the time I got home, all his stuff was gone. He just bolted.”

 

Once he’d provided her with a hot chocolate and his undivided attention (which he was sure he’d hear all about from his sister later), Felicity had relented and told Oliver why she was upset. He didn’t blame her for breaking down over her morning cupcake purchase if only the previous night her (ex)boyfriend had decided to announce his reluctance to deal with their unexpected pregnancy by disappearing altogether.

 

“What kind of asshole disappears when he’s going to be a father?” he’d scowled, a coffee of his own in front of him (with the lid off because she just missed the smell so much) to stop his fist from clenching. 

 

“The kind that never wanted to be a father in the first place,” she pointed out. She’d told him how they’d only been together for just under a year, that it hadn’t felt like a solid relationship that was going to lead anywhere serious in the immediate future, but they were living together as a means of convenience more than anything else and she hadn’t thrown out the idea of moving forward with him some day.

 

And then some day happened, and he wasn’t on board with her.

 

“Still. A father’s supposed to step up for their kid,” he decided. 

 

“Not _this_ guy, apparently,” she muttered.

 

“No wonder you’re having a terrible day,” Oliver said quietly, trying to keep any tone of pity out of his voice but she was perfecting the kicked puppy expression really well. Those incredibly blue eyes, especially when watery, were making him think of those ridiculous email chains that Thea would forward to him about orphaned puppies that needed a home. Or pregnant customers who desperately needed an extra cupcake to deal with their pathetic excuse for a baby daddy.

 

“It’s not like I _planned_ to get pregnant,” she rambled defensively. “We were being careful, I mean I have my business and he didn’t...want anything like that, and now I’m going to be stuck on my own with a baby that I don’t know how to take care of,” she sighed.

 

Oliver placed his hand over her wrist, giving it a gentle squeeze. She was halfway through her caramel cupcake after savagely consuming the double chocolate one by the time he’d returned with her drink. “I’m sure you’ll be a great mom,” he assured her.

 

She didn’t look convinced, though. “I never wanted this,” she waved a hand down at her stomach. He couldn’t see properly as her coat was still fastened, but she didn’t look like she had a bump at all. “My mom was a single mom, and we struggled and…” she suddenly caught herself, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, you don’t want to know all of this.”

 

“Hey, it’s okay. You can talk to me,” he told her with a smile. “Sometimes venting to a stranger helps get things off your chest.”

 

“You’re not a stranger, though,” she pointed out. “You’re Oliver the cupcake wizard.”

 

“Cupcake Wizard?” he repeated, unable to keep the amusement off his face. 

 

She nodded. “I don’t just like this place because it’s opposite my office.”

 

The expression triggered something in his memory, and a look of realization made him point directly at her across the table. “So _you_ were my anonymous Yelp reviewer?” he guessed, leaning in a little closer.

 

She just shrugged in response. “Honestly, if you’re going to put mint chip cupcakes on the menu when it just happens to be my birthday, you should expect anonymous marriage proposals.”

 

At that, Oliver couldn’t even attempt to hold back his laughter. It resonated straight from his stomach, shaking through him and attracting the attention of at least three other customers before he could silence himself enough to speak again. “Good to know my experimental cupcakes were enjoyed so much.”

 

The smile she gave him back was far more her usual caliber, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Thank you for talking to me.”

 

“Any time,” he nodded. “I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”

 

“And a good baker,” she added.

 

He placed his hand on the table as he stood, glancing over the counter before he looked back at her. “Let me make you up a box,” he offered. “I think what you need today is a sugar fix.” And it was true. It wasn’t entirely about the overstock he had from the morning disruption. 

 

“That sounds really good, but I don’t-”

 

The moment she reached for her purse, he held his hand up. “Please, put your wallet away. It’s on the house.”

 

Her eyes widened slightly. “You don’t have to-”

 

“Felicity, you’re a great customer,” he told her. “You’re in here every day. In fact, you’re probably our best customer. Consider this a thank you for your custom.”

 

“You know my name,” she realized quietly, tilting her head. 

 

“Who do you think writes it on your cups every day?” Oliver reminded her, which made her blush with understanding as she shook her head. But he leaned in just a little with a smile, and he told himself that it wasn’t to try and make her blush again, that he was just trying to make her day a little easier before it was going to go back to sucking. “I don’t draw a flower on anyone else’s cup though.”


	2. October

“Good morning!”

 

The chipper announcement was so out of kilter with what Oliver was used to that he almost stumbled off balance as he was arranging the cupcakes into the bottom shelf. One of his newer creations had been selling well through the morning and he’d already had to fix up a second batch to make sure they weren’t set to run out entirely before lunch. 

 

He straightened up, greeting his bright-eyed customer with a smile wider than he’d offer to any other morning guest. “Hey, good morning. We don’t usually get bright and early from you,” he noted with a slight test in his tone.

 

Felicity was a creature of habit, and that creature was one that detested mornings on the best of days. She despised them even more when she was suffering from morning sickness. Regardless, they always managed to serve up something that her stomach could handle, which he was thankful for. If she was put away from his bakery because of her pregnancy, it would be a long time for him to go without seeing his favourite customer. 

 

“I’ve been up for a long time already,” she told him as her eyes grazed over the new selection of cakes for the day. She was wearing her hair down today, not in the signature ponytail that he was used to seeing, so he supposed that she had had more time to get herself ready. “You don’t have to suffer my morning mood today.”

 

He faked a shocked expression. “How am I going to get through my day without you glaring at the healthy section?”

 

She just threw a satisfied little shrug at him, eyeing the fruit bowl by the front counter suspiciously. “I just don’t see why you have the pretense of people buying a banana in a bakery.”

 

He considered telling her that a lot of people grabbed a piece of fruit alongside their coffee for the morning commute, but she did have a point. The fruit bowl was overlooked and often only restocked once a day, and they never ran out of fruit like they ran out of chocolate fondant. “People come here for reasons other than my cupcakes,” he told her, indicating to the menu on the wall behind him with showed their full selection of treats. 

 

“Really?” she teased. 

 

He clutched a hand over his heart, faking a wince. “You wound me, Smoak,” he groaned, before he straightened up and pat his hand against the top of the display case. “What are you after today? Caramel? Vanilla? I’ve got a really nice passion fruit one that’s popular today, but you’d have to change your stance on fruit in the mornings.”

 

Felicity tore her gaze away from the new cake in question, but raised her eyebrow at him. “It’s cute that you think I’m interested in anything other than your Pumpkin selection.”

 

“Of course you’re a Halloween junkie,” he rolled his eyes as he reached for one of the single containers. 

 

“Actually, I wanted to get a box of them today,” she interrupted him before he could reseal the display unit. “The girls from work are doing a costume thing in the office and I want to join in.”

 

“No costume?” he asked.

 

She shook her head. “I had one planned, and then…” She opened the buttons on her coat and turned to the side. It took him a moment to see, but as soon as she flattened out the bottom of her work shirt he could see where it was straining across her mid-section.

 

“A bump!”

 

She nodded. “Yeah, thirteen weeks and this baby wants to make itself known pretty early,” she laughed nervously. 

 

“Thirteen weeks already?”

 

It didn’t seem all that long since she had told him her story, but in the weeks that had followed Felicity was trying to embrace her new situation. Regardless of her ex disappearing, she was determined to be a good parent to her baby and was trying to prepare herself for that however she could. One of her biggest coping mechanisms was her daily cupcakes, which she insisted were vital to her emotional well-being, which was something the books said was vital at this important time.

 

“Yeah, I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday,” she told him. “Thirteen weeks and everything looks good.”

 

“Well that’s great news,” he grinned, finishing up the Halloween selection (complete with iced ghouls that Thea insisted were essential). “I think that deserves a second cupcake for good baby growing.”

 

“Oh, there was  _ always  _ going to be an extra cupcake,” she insisted with a small laugh.

 

As if he expected her response, Oliver took out a tray from the far end of the unit, showing her a plate of another of his new cakes for the day. “But was it always going to be a cookie dough cupcake base with a pumpkin icing swirl?” he tempted her.

 

Her jaw dropped a little. He didn’t think it was possible for people to exhibit full-scale lust over baked goods before, but he couldn’t mistake that look for anything else. “Stop it, that’s not real.”

 

“Oh, it’s real,” he grinned.

 

“I _need_ one,” she blurted. 

 

“I already boxed one up for you,” he nodded up to the front, assuring her that her sugar needs were well prepared for.

 

“You did?”

 

“If your pregnancy craving is my cupcakes, then I’m going to do it well,” he pointed out. And maybe he liked to see a smile on his face as well, sue him. The world was going to a bad place if he didn’t make time in his day to make a pretty girl smile. “So, what was your costume going to be?” he asked.

 

“For work?” she asked, snapping her eyes away from the cakes as he replaced them in the unit. 

 

“You said you had one before?” he prompted.

 

“Oh, it’s cliche, but I was going to go as a black cat,” she said airily, as if she wasn’t all that bothered at the prospect of dressing up for a full day at the office. “I got these really cool contact lenses that look just like cat eyes. It would have been great. I guess I can still wear the cat ears at my desk though, that will have to do.”

 

“There’s always next year,” he pointed out.

 

An ironic laugh slipped past her lips. “I think I’ll have my work cut out for me losing the baby weight if I’m going to be eating multiple cupcakes a day.”

 

“Lies. You won’t have anything to worry about,” he assured her.

 

“Well that’s easy for you to say, you’re basically an adonis,” she said quickly, before a look of mild horror took over and she clenched her eyes tightly shut. “I mean, as far as I know. Not that I know, or that I’ve even imagined, or ---say, have you ever thought have installing a trapdoor right here so I can literally disappear and stop talking?”

 

“Felicity, it’s fine,” he said, hiding how much he was trying not to laugh at her small outburst.

 

“Hormones and no mental filter are a terrible combination,” she grumbled.

 

“If it makes you feel any better, I usually blame it on being around the sugar,” Oliver suggested as he moved to the cash register and started to price up her choices. As much as he liked a busy morning because it brought it more revenue, he liked these quieter mornings so they got a decent chance to talk without other customers losing interest.

 

“Is that why you draw flowers on my cup?” she asked with a tilt of her head that he tried to tell himself wasn’t adorable. 

 

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” he repeated more firmly. 

 

“Baby weight is a nightmare,” she complained as she rearranged her shirt once again and forced the buttons of her coat back into a regular position. 

 

“Felicity, I run a cupcake store. Do you really think a few extra pounds bothers me?” he reminded her, an amused smile parked on his face. “I’m basically the cause of them.”

 

She laughed at that. “Like a reverse  _ Insanity  _ infomercial,” she agreed.

 

“Tried that once, found it too easy,” he shrugged.

 

“Okay, now you’re  _ definitely  _ lying.”

 

Once he’d cashed up the order and placed it in a bag, he cleared his throat. “Hey, you should stop by after work. I’ll have some of these Halloween ones as overstock. I usually sit outside and hand them out to trick or treaters.”

 

She smiled at him, and he’d guessed he was right about her being a real trick-or-treater fan as he’d predicted the moment he saw how into Halloween she was. “That’s a really nice idea.”

 

“Well if I can’t get you to take some home, you’re welcome to join me,” he offered. Once he saw her eyebrows shoot up in surprise he backtracked slightly, stumbling over his words. “That is, if you’re not busy, which you probably have plans, of course, you do, it was just -”

 

“I don’t,” she cut him off quietly. “Have plans.”

 

“Oh. So, would-?”

 

She nodded. “I’ll come over straight from the office?”

  
“See you then.”


	3. November

Oliver initially missed Felicity when she first came into the bakery on a colder morning than usual, but once the crowd thinned he found her skeptically eyeing up the cupcake counter. She did this every morning now, pursing her lips as she concentrated hard on the treats on display. Her tastes were changing almost daily with the progressing pregnancy, and she couldn’t always rely on her old favorites to satisfy the changes in her body. She still insisted that being unable to stomach her all time favorite vanilla cream for an entire five weeks had been a greater loss than her boyfriend deserting her.

 

“So, what are we craving today?” he asked her brightly, standing before her with the counter between them. While it was colder that day, she had her coat undone entirely because of the growing bump beneath the fabric. It seemed to be getting more pronounced by the day (as were other things that he was forcing himself not to notice) and she swore that she was bigger than she should be because of his determination to keep her well fed.

 

“Baby’s after something fruity,” she announced strangely, as if she were hesitant to give in to this particular craving.. 

 

His eyebrows raised considerably. “That’s different.”

 

“I know, I’m going to give him or her a ‘talking to’ tonight because if I don’t get my Friday chocolate chip this kid’s going to be in _serious_ trouble,” she grumbled without taking her eyes off the cakes.

 

“Well, you’ve got a choice,” he told her, directing her to the bottom shelf. “I recommend the Strawberry Surprise or you can try and trick the baby with a Chocolate Orange Explosion.”

 

She mulled over the names as she glanced between the two that he’d indicated. “They both sound good. What’s the surprise in the strawberry one?”

 

“There’s pieces of sliced strawberry inside the icing.”

 

That made her decision for her. She straightened with a firm nod. “Then I’ll take one of each, please.”

 

He wasn’t surprised that she’d ordered both. She’d let slip her cupcake routine a few weeks ago to him, and she ordered one to eat first thing in the morning at her desk, and the second one was to reward herself for the healthy lunch she was now bringing from home instead of going to Big Belly Burger every day for lunch. 

 

“Coming right up,” he reached for a cupcake box and prepped the one’s she’d selected. “Hot chocolate too?”

 

“As always.”

 

He turned around and started to heat the milk, giving her his full attention while it readied itself. “While you wait, I wanted to get your opinion on something,” he said, reaching for a bowl that he had underneath the counter.

 

“Mine?” she asked, confusion written over her face because she was not a professional at what he did, unless it came to eating the finished goods.

 

“Yeah, have a try of this icing,” he asked, taking a spoon and scooping up a mouthful of it as he passed it over to her. 

 

She slipped it into her mouth, savoring it for a few moments before she groaned. She _really_ groaned, in a way that should be sinful in public. “Okay, that’s delicious. What is that?” she asked, her eyes still closed in what he could only assume was a state of bliss.

 

“It’s something I’ve been working on for the Christmas menu in a few weeks,” he told her, not wanting to give away the full surprise but he had wanted to make sure that the taste was something good outside of his plans for it. 

 

Her eyes snapped open then, looking at him incredulously. “It’s not even Thanksgiving yet.”

 

“I know, but I wanted to get a head start on the menu,” he explained as he set the bowl back out of sight. “Christmas is my favorite holiday.”

 

They were starting to learn more about each other over the last few weeks. Now when they talked each morning it wasn’t just a pleasantry. If he wasn’t on the main counter when she came in, John or Thea would let him know that she was there so he could serve her personally. She always stayed for at least ten minutes, regardless of how busy the shop was. Now it was colder and she didn’t want to eat lunch at her desk, she sometimes brought over her sandwiches or her salad and ate them at the back of the shop where had had his rushed lunch. 

 

She had lunch with him. It was the second favorite part of his day.

 

The favorite part? This part.

 

“What are you doing to celebrate?” she asked him.

 

“It’ll just be me and my sister,” he told her as he worked his way through cashing up her order.. “We’re going to open up in the morning, we get a lot of the early walkers on Christmas morning, and then we’ll spend the afternoon eating too much and probably drinking too much.” He left out the part that they didn’t see his family because his parents had been involved with some seedy business before they’d both passed away in an accident, and not much of their biological family wanted anything to do with either Thea or himself since. 

 

“Sounds good,” she smiled.

 

“What about you?” he inquired. “Holiday plans?”

 

“Well, I’m Jewish, so my mom’s coming in for Hanukkah,” she explained. “Usually I’d go to her, but she didn’t want me flying. I told her that’s not a problem, but she hasn’t ever come out here before so it’ll be good to show her around,” she rambled. She’d mentioned going out to Vegas some weekends before to see her mother, but he could see that her mother coming to see her for a change was something that was more important to her than she was letting on. 

 

“Make sure you let me know when, I’ll make up something special for her,” he offered with a nod to the cupcakes. 

 

“You’d do that?”

 

“I _am_ the person getting her daughter fat,” he pointed out.

 

“You _and_ the baby,” she corrected him with a pat of her stomach.

 

“We’re a tag team, we’re running on pure telepathy,” he winked.

 

“Wow, that one was _terrible_ ,” Felicity laughed.

 

He shrugged, writing her name on her hot chocolate cup even though he didn’t need to - it was habit now. “I’m running low on caffeine today.”

 

“You should get a coffee,” she suggested. “I hear they’re really great here.”

 

“I know. I hear the owner’s just the best,” he added with a gossipy tone, turning to fix up her drink while she laughed. At least that way he could hide how her laugh made his smile grow.

 

“Really?” 

 

“Yeah, you haven’t heard?” he continued as he turned back to her, sliding her hot chocolate towards her. “He’s a complete dreamboat.”

 

“Does anyone even _say_ dreamboat anymore?”

 

“Only when they’re talking about this guy.”

 

“Shocking,” she laughed, taking hold of her order with a shake of her head. “Anyway I better get going. I have a staff meeting this morning.”

 

“Sounds fun,” he lied. “Enjoy your day.”

  
“Yours too.”


	4. December

Oliver didn’t want to admit that he was waiting on baited breath for Felicity to turn up to Queen’s Cupcakes at lunchtime, but he was. He was borderline going out of his mind. Originally he’d arranged the day off to go meet his childhood friend for drinks and a catch up, but that morning Tommy had cancelled and he hated to admit that he was entirely thrilled with the development. 

 

Felicity had a doctor’s appointment today. The Big One, she’d been calling it for a few weeks now. She’d wanted to find out the sex of the baby, and he’d set up a small surprise for her either way, but when she’d come in that morning she’d said her appointment was at ten-thirty, and now it was after two and--

 

She blustered in from the cold outside with rosy cheeks that matched the redness on the end of her nose. The cold weather was definitely taking hold of the city and now that her stomach was protruding from her coat so much it was no wonder she looked half frozen. He grinned at the sight of her flustered appearance, always pleased to see her.

 

“So? How did it go?” he asked as soon as she came up to the end of the counter where he stood. They were beneath the heating vent there so she slipped off her coat before she answered. 

 

“I didn’t think you were working this afternoon?” she asked.

 

“It was your scan today, right?” he said, not answering her question at all.

 

She took a long breath before answering, pressing her hands against her lower spine because that was just how she stood now. “It was.”

 

“Is everything okay?” he asked with a frown.

 

“Well, it was...unexpected,” she told him, taking a concerning amount of time to settle on a word that wasn’t exactly what he expected either.

 

“You found out what you’re having, didn’t you?” he asked.

 

“That was the unexpected part,” she nodded. She went to speak again but he held up a hand to stop her.

 

“Okay, wait. Not yet.”

 

“Not yet?” she asked as he disappeared behind the counter for a moment. She took his absence as an opportunity to sit down at the nearest table. 

 

“I’m fully prepared for either situation,” he announced as he returned. With him was a single plate containing two cupcakes that instantly made her smile. One was a strawberry-flavoured sponge with pink icing on it, and the other a blueberry muffin topped with blue icing. He took the seat opposite her, the cakes filling the space between them as she smiled at them, rubbing her stomach. “So, which one are you having today?” he asked her.

 

“Are you trying to fatten me up?” she teased.

 

“At the risk of angering a pregnant woman, I’m not causing the extra body weight,” he pointed out with a smile. He nodded back to the plate. “So, come on. Pink cake or blue cake.”

 

She held his gaze for the longest time, but when her hand moved he broke the eye contact and he watched as her fingers curled around the base of the blue cake and pulled it towards her, carefully setting the cupcake on the curve of her belly.

 

“I knew it!” he declared, his lips quickly curving into a grin..

 

Only then she moved again.

 

And she took the pink cupcake. And she set it right beside the blue one.

 

“I…. _ what _ ?”

 

She looked at him dumbly for a moment. “The idea was to take a cake for what I’m having, right? Did I do this wrong?” she checked.

 

“You’re having a boy  _ and  _ a girl?” he spluttered.

 

“I am,” she nodded.

 

“You’re having twins?”

 

“I’m having twins,” she repeated with a nervous laugh. She moved the cakes back to the table so she could shift her position more comfortably.

 

“Two babies.”

 

“Two babies, both craving cupcakes,” she confirmed.

 

“We’ve got some celebrating to do, I’ll put another tray of Caramel in the oven, those are your favorites right now, right? You…don’t look excited,” he stopped mid-way through his plan for the afternoon, catching sight of her expression that was far from the overjoyed mother he’d seen last week when the baby had kicked. 

 

“I’m  _ terrified _ .”

 

“But this is great news! Right?” he checked.

 

She shrugged in response, staring down at the two cakes as if they might hold all the answers. “I was afraid of having one baby, and now  _ two _ ? That’s  _ two  _ little humans depending on me.  _ Two _ . Literally double what I was planning on. And that wasn’t even planned. Not that I’m saying my kid was an accident. Well, it was, but...a happy accident, that’s what people say, right? But then again I guess with twins one of them is always the one that wasn’t planned. Because who plans to have two babies at the same time? That’s the craziest idea ever and-”

 

He reached across the table, placing his hands over hers with an assuring squeeze to cut off her ramble. “Felicity, breathe.”

 

She did take a breath, but it didn’t seem to calm her at all. “I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do,” she confessed.

 

“You said that a few months ago, and you figured it out,” he reminded her, thinking back to that first day she had told him she was pregnant and alone.

 

“This is twice the work now.”

 

“Twice the love,” he corrected her. “Wait, don’t eat that!” he rushed as he saw her start to peel the wrapper from the base of one of the cakes.

 

“But you made them for the babies and the babies want them,” she pouted. “They’re hungry.”

 

He shook his head, lighting batting her fingers away. “I’ve done the perfect pregnancy announcement set up for twins, you can’t destroy the evidence.”

 

“The evidence is sitting on my bladder,” she reminded him. 

 

He stood up, reaching for his phone inside his pocket. “Come on, you’ve got to get a photo of these. Let me take it,” he said, clearly with no room for argument. 

 

She relented, and even arranged the cupcakes on her bump again as he snapped the photo. He sent it to her phone so she had the copy, but something in the photo and the way she smiled down at her bump really made his stomach twist. She really was beautiful. He didn't think she realized that. She wore her pregnancy well, too. He knew that it was getting hard on her, and he wasn't ignorant of how unpleasant a pregnancy could be at times, but he was enjoying seeing her grow into a mother. He told himself that it was because he was her friend, but he wasn't believing that any more.

 

“Hey, weird question,” he said. “Can I put a copy of that on the wall?”

 

Her eyebrow raised as she looked up from the photo he’d just sent her. “On the shop wall?”

 

He nodded, indicating to the board up underneath the menu.  “Well, we have the photos up of all the proposals that people have done here,” he looked down at the cupcakes again and nodded towards her stomach. “I think these guys deserve to be up there.”

 

“Sure, that’d be nice,” she smiled lightly. 

 

“I thought so.”

 

“When they’re two and I want to scream all day because they’re torturing each other, it’ll be nice to come here and see the happy reminder.”

 

He laughed, finally not fighting her when she made to take a large bite out of one of the cupcakes. “That’s another way to look at it.”


	5. January

“Table rounds today?”

 

Felicity’s tone wasn’t teasing as Oliver came to set her morning cupcake and her hot chocolate at her table. The babies were far more active in the early morning so getting up at a decent hour was already a thing of the past, so she’d started arriving and having a proper breakfast at Queens Cupcakes. Usually that proper breakfast was just a round of toast and it was always followed by a cupcake of her choosing, but it was breakfast nonetheless, and breakfast with Oliver, usually.

 

“Thea took a day off,” Oliver told her as he moved a cleaning cloth up to his shoulder. “She’s going upstate to see her college friends.”

 

“That sounds like a living hell,” she winced.

 

“Yeah, apparently she _likes_ seeing them?” he agreed with an odd expression that somewhat matched her own. “Weird, if you ask me.”

 

She nodded. “I couldn’t wait to get away from mine.”

 

“Same. Now they all want to get me on Facebook.”

 

Felicity’s expression changed to one of trauma, placing her hand over his in a plea. “ _Don’t_. It’s a downward spiral and you look like you’d crash hard into Candy Crush gift requests,” she warned him.

 

He raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. “Is that a dig at my gummy bear cupcakes?”

 

“Quite the opposite,” she corrected him. “ I like those, a lot. You should make them a regular.”   
  


Oliver smiled, suspecting that her insistence of that was mainly because he’d made them in so many different colors with alternate flavorings, and there was no way she could attempt to taste them all in the same day. “I’ll see what I can do. How’s the kids today?”

 

“Active, check this out.”

 

She grabbed his hand fully before he had time to think about it, and suddenly his palm was pressed right against the left side of her belly where he could feel---something that he couldn’t explain. It wasn’t the typical kick he’d been expecting, it felt like waves beneath his hand, something constant and unpredictable that was completely and utterly amazing. He could feel her babies. The babies that were inside her. He was feeling the babies moving around inside Felicity's stomach and she was quiet content to press his hand right against her belly. 

 

“Wow,” he choked out, recovering quickly from the rush of how surprisingly intimate it all felt. “How do you sit still with that going on?”

 

“It’s crazy, right?” she agreed.

 

“No doubting there’s two in there any more,” he added. 

 

She moved his hand up to the top of her stomach, keeping her fingers interlocked with his. “See, this here, that’s baby boys back,” she explained. “You can feel his whole spine when you go like this.” She pulled his palm down the side of her belly, pressing in so he could feel what lay beneath her skin. "He's a little bigger, so you know it's him."

 

“That’s incredible.”

 

“Not as incredible as this,” she added, moving his palm to the base of her stomach quickly.

 

But that time he didn’t feel anything, not a single ripple against his palm. “I don’t-”

 

“Wait for it,” she told him, and pressed on the top side of her bump. Then he felt it, the much firmer pressure against his hand. 

 

“Is that--?”

 

“That’s baby girl’s head,” she grinned. “When you poke her butt, she moves her head up.”

 

It seemed like an odd quirk to recognize, but somehow it felt perfect. So he didn’t try to move away, and he stayed in place with his hand on her belly, marveling in the knowledge that there were two tiny people right there. Two future sugar addicts, just like their mother, no doubt. And she knew them so well, well enough to know when she was poking their butt to get them to move, which seemed like such a...Felicity thing to do.

 

“You’ve been doing this a lot, haven’t you?” he realized.

 

“Well I won’t get to do it for very long,” she admitted with a nod. “It’s probably going to get insanely uncomfortable soon, especially with two of them in there. Plus, knowing their little tricks already and being able to tell them apart is pretty cool.”

 

“Yeah, it is,” he agreed, and he reluctantly moved back and drew his hand away from her so he could properly sit beside her. “So, any names yet?”

 

“Maybe,” she teased.

 

“Secrets.”

 

She laughed, shaking her head. “No, I just pick two new ones every day and then change my mind by lunch.”

 

“You’re going to have to stick to two eventually,” he pointed out. 

 

“Why? Baby One and Baby Two is so much more convenient.”

 

“You’re right, whatever was I thinking?”

 

\---

 

Thea had found her brother doing a great many strange things during her life. Once, she’d found him asleep head down on the staircase after a night out drinking. Another time she’d found him tearing up in front of the Lion King and he’d sworn her to secrecy and they’d never spoken of it again (well, she’d never spoken about it to  _ him  _ again). 

 

But she wasn’t sure there was any reason for him to be crouched at the entrance of Queens Cupcakes an hour before closing time with his tape measure in hand.

 

“Why are you measuring the door?” she asked, coming to a stop behind him.

 

He turned to look at her as though he’d been caught stealing from the cash register. His eyes widened and he almost hit his head until he held himself steady, aiming for a casual look of nonchalance which didn’t work at all. “Just...doing some maintenance.”

 

“You’re checking it’s wide enough for a double stroller, aren’t you?”

 

He stopped, tape measure in hand rolling back into position as he sighed. “I’ve never seen someone try to get one in here,” he explained.

 

“And Felicity’s having twins. Funny that.”

 

Only it wasn’t funny. It was getting frustrating how insanely in love with her that her brother was, especially when he wasn’t going to do anything about it. She’d seen him waiting like a puppy for her to turn up every morning, and she knew he was falling deeper for her day by day. Unless Thea made him understand what was going on, that he had real feelings for this woman, she wasn’t sure he’d ever understand what he was feeling.

 

“We can’t have our door keeping out our best customer,” he justified turning back to his work.

 

“Sure, we can’t.”

 

“Stop looking at me like that,” he huffed.

 

\---

 

“Is he measuring a door?”

 

Caitlin left her desk to see where Felicity was looking across the street. They were only one floor up from street level, which gave them a convenient view of the store that Felicity spent most of her time (and probably most of her money). From their office it was easy to see Oliver on his knees as he took notes of measurements, apparently deep in thought until his sister turned up to talk to him.

 

“He’s checking that a stroller will fit through the door,” Caitlin pointed out, as a customer with a stroller turned up a few moments later and Oliver gave particular attention to how it fit through the area.

 

“Of course it will,” Felicity shrugged.

 

“But will a double stroller fit?” Caitlin asked.

 

Silence fell between the two long-time friends. Felicity certainly knew Caitlin well enough to know what she was insinuating, and she wasn’t sure it was something she was ready to talk about with her when it wasn’t something she was even allowing herself to think herself. She was pregnant. With twins. Surely she had priorities to consider other than the door maintenance at her favorite cupcake store.

 

“What are you suggesting?” she asked coolly. 

 

“That he doesn’t want to keep his best customer out just because she’s got babies.”

 

Felicity laughed slightly, going back to her to her desk. “I’d just have to send you over to get my coffee,” she teased her friend.

 

“But then he wouldn’t get to see you,” Caitlin sighed dramatically, settling back down opposite Felicity with a longing, hopeful expression.

 

“Stop looking at me like that,” she murmured without even looking away from her computer.

 

“He has a thing for you,” she told her bluntly.

 

She looked up this time, fixing her with her best _‘I don’t want to talk about it’_ stare. “Stop it.”

 

But Caitlin wasn’t done. “And you have a thing for him.”

 

“He’s my friend,” Felicity insisted. And he was. Oliver was a great friend to her. They’d gone from fleeting conversations to having lunch daily (at minimum), and truthfully, she was happier now than she had been in a long time. Certainly she was happier than she was when she had been with Cooper. 

 

“Sure,” Caitlin drawled as if she didn’t believe her.

 

Felicity told herself that she didn’t care. She had far more important things to worry about than whether or not she could get a twin stroller through the door of Queens Cupcakes. 

 

But it was still a comfort to know that she could.


	6. February

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is my personal favorite.

They’d started hanging out away from the bakery. That was a thing they did now. Oliver was trying not to think too much about it, but it was happening. And he liked it. Three times they’d ended up at Big Belly on (not a date) evening dinner runs where they’d both finished up work too late to even consider cooking dinner. One Sunday afternoon he bumped into her at the grocery store and they ended up talking for so long that her pint of mint chip melted and they had to go back in to get her another one. 

 

“You really didn’t have to do this, you know.”

 

So it wasn’t _entirely_ weird that he was sat in the floor of her studio apartment on a Saturday morning surrounded by littered fragments of two IKEA cribs.

 

“Felicity, you said you needed help, and I’m happy to help,” he assured her without even glancing up from the assembly instructions that were definitely written in six languages and randomly switched between them on different sentences. 

 

“But what about the store?” she reasoned. 

 

She’d used that reasoning three times already but it didn’t matter to Oliver. It was because he’d told her a few weeks ago that he made his best profit on a Saturday when the foot traffic was a constant near the center of town and he wasn’t reliant on commuter arrivals. Besides, he had no intention of turning around and leaving now that he was actually being of use to something other than her pregnancy cravings. “Thea can handle it for a day,” he said confidently. 

 

“When you’re complaining about leftover pink icing tomorrow, I’ll remind you that you said that.” Felicity mumbled, sitting down in the nursing chair that she’d bought for herself. She’d repeatedly claimed it was the most comfortable thing in her entire apartment, replacing her maternity yoga pants as her favorite thing on the planet. 

 

Oliver glanced at her over the top of the manual. “Hmm, maybe I should leave you alone with this IKEA furniture.”

 

“That’s cruel,” she pouted.

 

“I’m going to take the instructions with me, as well.”

 

“I guess I need to go back to Starbucks,” she mused aloud, because she knew exactly how to rile up a small business owner.

 

“And you think _I’m_ the cruel one?” he laughed.

 

Her gaze turned more serious, her hands relaxing over her stomach. “I do appreciate you helping with this. I managed to do the dresser but the cribs I just couldn’t do with this belly,” she sighed. Carrying one baby would have made it difficult enough to move around, but carrying twins was making it damn near impossible to do anything. 

 

When she stopped into Queens Cupcakes now Oliver often found himself helping her out of her chair, and he’d just happened to switch in a few of his tables in for armchairs and smaller tables in the windows, which meant that she had somewhere more comfortable to sit. (He’d spent an entire afternoon convincing Thea that he hadn’t had them bought in just for Felicity. She still didn’t believe him). The heels that he'd lo--admired on a daily basis, sometimes coincidentally the same color as the cupcake she selected, had already been blindsided for more comfortable flat shoes, and he'd overheard (accidentally) her talking to another pregnant customer in the queue last week about the benefits of a decent maternity bra and he was absolutely not thinking about that.

 

“Lucky for you, I’m great at this,” he said, as he cast the instructions aside and picked up two of the baser parts and began fastening together.

 

“Building cribs?”

 

He laughed slightly. “Overcoming the recommended IKEA instructions.”

 

“You’re breaking the first rule of IKEA,” she told him pointedly. 

 

“We all know the first rule of IKEA is to never leave without the meatballs.”

 

At the mention of the meatballs, she let out an audible groan. He listed that as another thing not to think about. “Don’t mention the meatballs,” she insisted. “I will drive over there just to get them and then it’ll become a daily thing I can’t afford that on top of a cupcake habit.”

 

He laughed. “I can’t really help you out with that one.” 

 

“You just don’t want the babies to crave anything other than your cupcakes,” she pointed out.

 

She wasn’t wrong. Oliver loved that she had some kind of addiction to his craft, and not just for selfish reasons. He knew that she’d not had an easy pregnancy, right from the start. He had nothing good to say about a man who ran out on his kid, but he knew it had to be hard for Felicity, who had a lot of good memories with the guy before that point that she had to set aside to focus on being a mother. Not to mention the extra aches and health concerns that came with carrying twins. 

 

Now she was trying to squeeze two babies with a lot of possessions into her studio apartment. She’d done a good job of it so far. She’d curtained off an area for the cribs that acted as a bedroom the same way she had with her bed, and it made it easy for her to get to them during the night. He could imagine that she was going to run out of room quickly once they started getting old enough for toys though.

 

So it wasn’t easy for her. But she was doing her absolute best, and if he could make her day the tiniest bit brighter by giving her a cupcake, then he would carry on doing that for as long as he could. 

 

“I was thinking of making them Raspberry fondant tomorrow,” he told her as he managed to get three pieces of the crib upright and sturdy. 

 

“I think they’re going to want one of the Oreo ones that you made last week, too,” Felicity mused gently.

 

He cast his eyes up, and she had her eyes closed, rocking the chair ever so slightly. The sun was catching the image before him in just a way that he thought he was living in some goddamn chick flick because really, Universe? He was starting to get the hint. She was more than just his pretty customer. Pretty wasn't a strong enough word. Content and comfortable in her own home, in her most comfortable outfit? Beautiful was the closest word for it. Maybe he let himself stare a little. Maybe. Just a little. “They weren’t going to be on this week’s menu.”

 

“Oh,” she sounded disappointed. “That’s going to make the babies really sad.”

 

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “Really?”

 

“You know, there’s this study that babies can cry in the womb from the twenty eighth week of pregnancy.”

 

His eyes darted up quickly when she announced that. “They can cry already?” he asked.

 

Felicity shrugged. “Maybe they will if they don’t get their Oreo cupcakes.”

 

“I don’t want to make them cry,” he insisted.

 

“I don’t want them to cry either.”

 

He was quiet for a moment. Half of him was debating the menu for the coming week. The other half of him was trying (and failing) to wonder how babies could cry in the womb without being heard outside of the womb. “Maybe I’ll make two special ones, just for them,” he suggested, before he held out an odd piece of equipment to her. “Here, can you hold this for me?”

 

“Sure,” she rocked forward in the chair. “What is this?”

 

“Honestly? I have absolutely no idea.”

 

She laughed, twisting it in her hands to observe it. “It doesn’t look like any part of the crib.”

 

“Maybe it’s a trick piece,” he suggested. 

 

“What if it’s life-saving?” Felicity asked. He didn’t blame her - she was trusting these not to collapse when she placed her babies in them. 

 

“It isn’t anywhere in the manual,” he told her.

 

Felicity sighed. “I knew I shouldn’t have gone to IKEA.”

 

Oliver brandished a piece of the fixtures towards her, pointing at her with narrowed eyes. “If you mention that death-trap Craigslist crib again, I’ll call IKEA myself and tell them you’re banned from buying meatballs.”

 

Once again, she pouted at him. “That’s just horrible.”

 

“So was the crib,” he argued. “You could tell that just from the photo.”

 

“It was cheap,” Felicity reasoned with a small shrug.

 

The comment hung in the air. He couldn’t even imagine how much it was costing for her to fund two babies. He wasn’t sure how much money she made, and it was rude to ask, but he was starting to worry about her. He worried about her a lot, if he was honest, but he was starting to feel even more determined to make sure that they were okay as time went on. “Hey...are you okay?” he asked her quietly.

 

“Hmm?” 

 

“Buying things for two babies can’t be easy.”

 

She sighed, and ran her hand down her stomach again. “It’s not. But we’re managing. I’m just trying not to go overboard,” she explained to him. Managing was good. Managing meant coping. “Besides, I know the girls have been emailing about what they’re getting me for my baby shower next weekend and they’re going _really_ overboard anyway.”

 

“So the babies are getting spoiled,” he assumed correctly. He’d heard stories of what baby showers were like, and they sound both horrifying, and yet exactly what Felicity needed right now.

 

“Completely spoiled,” she grinned in agreement.

 

“I think Thea’s coming to that,” he added after a few moments. “She was talking about it the other day.”

 

She nodded, fully aware of the younger Queen sibling. “Yeah, a friend of hers works at my place, they invited her.”

 

“I’m going to warn you now, she’s got a huge shopping problem,” he grinned knowingly. 

 

“There’s a reason I haven’t bought any baby clothes” Felicity stated, casting a hand around her. It was a good choice, really. People would go overboard with gifts at a baby shower, and they’d buy cute things, toys and clothes, and she’d need enough for two babies. She’d bought the practical, pricier objects that people wouldn’t spring for, making the most of her baby shower without looking for handouts.

 

“So, when do I get to give you your gift?” he asked curiously. He hadn’t been given an invite to the baby shower, since the girls had declared it a man free zone.

 

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You got me a gift?”

 

“Well, I got the babies a gift.”

 

She fixed him with that same look she’d given him when he’d started opening the IKEA boxes. “You didn’t have to-”

 

He cut her off with a smile. “I wanted to.”

 

And he had wanted to. He’d wanted to get her something meaningful, so he’d found a website that put any slogan or logo onto a onesie. In a gift bag out back at the bakery, he’d hidden two onesies - one pink, one blue - with Queen’s Cupcakes logo on the front, and ‘VIP Customer’ emblazoned on the back. 

 

“That’s really sweet,” she smiled back at him.

 

Their smiles met for longer than he thought they ever had before. It was nice, he realized, this simple moment. Her in the nursing chair, rubbing her belly, him putting the cribs together. This tiny apartment scattered with pre-baby prep felt warm in a way that his own set of rooms above the bakery never had. This was the first time he'd been here, but it almost felt like he'd been coming here every day of his life. It felt like a home. It felt right. It felt---

 

“Anyway, I’d better get the cribs up otherwise these babies won’t have anywhere to sleep,” he cleared his throat, just as she looked away and started to get to her feet. 

 

Once she’d gotten upright, she walked past him, landing her hand on his shoulder. “Do you want a coffee?” she offered.

 

“Usually I bring you coffee. Well, before the babies.”

 

Her belly quivered right next to his head. He actually  _ saw  _ it now when they moved, not just felt it. It was like they knew he was talking about them. “Maybe I can make an exception,” she told him.

 

“Coffee would be good, thanks.”

 

She squeezed his shoulder before she released it. He tried not to think too hard about that.

 

Except he could't stop thinking about it.

 

He couldn't stop thinking about her.


	7. March

“She’s late.”

 

Oliver looked up sharply, his sister’s voice puncturing all thoughts he’d been having about...wait, what had he been doing again? “Who’s late?” he asked casually. 

 

“You’ve been staring at the clock for an hour,” Thea pointed out to him.

 

“I...what?”

 

He can’t have been staring at it for an hour. Except it was after nine. So he had been staring at it for an hour. Probably longer than an hour, but he wasn’t going to give his sister the satisfaction of being right. Felicity was always at eight or earlier because her office started at eight-thirty. She’d never missed a day, not even when the babies had kept her awake all night kicking, and even on days that she’d been late for work entirely she hadn’t skipped out her trip to Queens Cupcakes. It just didn’t happen.

 

“Felicity. Your very pregnant new best friend, apparently. She hasn’t come in yet.”

 

Except it had happened. It was after nine - forty minutes after nine - and she hadn’t come in.

 

“Maybe she’s busy at work,” he suggested calmly. Or maybe something had happened. Maybe she was in the hospital. Maybe she was taken in during the night and that’s why she wasn’t there. Maybe the babies had come early. Maybe there was something wrong with the babies. She had been complaining that her back was hurting more than usual the day before. What if that was the start of something that had changed everything and --

 

“Maybe she made up with her baby daddy.”

 

He could always count on Thea to bring up the one scenario he didn’t want to think about. “That’s not going to happen,” he insisted gruffly.

 

“Isn’t it?” she teased scandalously.

 

Oliver turned his attention to casting his eyes over the cupcakes that needed to be replenished, taking stock notes for what he wanted to make up for the afternoon customers. After a few minutes he felt Thea’s eyes on him, but didn’t give her the satisfaction of looking up at her. “I’m not waiting for her.”

 

“You’re definitely waiting for her,” she decided.

 

“I’m-”

 

“It’s adorable. Everyone thinks so.”

 

Wait, what? His head snapped up so quickly he was at risk for whiplash. He’d never been called adorable, at least not that he could remember. He’d forgive the odd adorable comment when he was an infant (because he had been an adorable baby, even he could admit that) but since he’d learned to dress himself and wipe his own ass, there was no danger of anyone thinking he was ‘adorable’. “Who’s everyone?”

 

“All the staff and regulars here. And the girls in her office…”

 

Talking? About him? Him and Felicity? Not that there was a him and Felicity… “How do you-”

 

“People talk,” Thea pointed out casually, before her eyes lifted and she gave him a far more meaningful look. “ _ Women  _ talk.”

 

He cleared his throat, turning his attention to the confectionary before him once again. “Does Felicity talk?” he asked lightly.

 

“A lot.”

 

Well, he didn’t need anyone to tell him that. “About...things here,” he pressed.

 

“You want to know if she talks about you?” He didn’t even have to look at her to know she was smiling. Of course she was smiling. His sister lived for moments like this, he was sure of it.

 

“No,” he insisted.

 

“Really?”

 

“Why would I want to know that?” He did want to know. She was becoming a huge part of his day - of his life, who was he kidding? - and part of him needed to know whether that was the same for her.

 

“Because she does,” Thea told him. “A lot, apparently.”

 

“Oh,” he murmured.

 

That changed things. 

 

Felicity was his friend. His very close friend. His very close friend that went out of her way every morning to come and see him for cupcakes that he went out of his way to make for her. His very close friend who came to eat lunch with him, and tagged him in cat videos on Facebook, and that he was spending an increasing amount of time with outside of their respective jobs.

 

Felicity was his friend who talked about him a lot. 

 

“Like I said. Everyone thinks it’s adorable,” Thea shrugged.

 

“It’s not…” he tried to start, but couldn’t find the words to continue. It’s not adorable? Okay, maybe it was. It’s not a relationship? It’s not just a friendship? It’s not important? It’s not everything he looks forward to when his day starts and everything he thinks about when his day ends? He didn’t know where to draw the line anymore.

 

He wasn’t sure if the line was so out of sight that he’d left it behind when he crossed it all those months ago by asking her why she was crying.

 

“Here.”

 

Oliver cut his thoughts short when Thea pressed a selection of boxes and a carrier of styrofoam coffee cups into his hands. “What’s this?”

 

“Her order, plus some extras,” she explained. “Why don’t you take it to her at her office?”

 

He glanced between his sister and the boxes. “Why do you have this already?”

 

“Because if you take it over to her, I win twenty bucks,” she deadpanned. 

 

“You’re betting on us?”

 

“You have a pool on the baby weight,” she told him, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder to where the regular customers had signed up for a pool on the weight of Felicity’s unborn children. 

 

“That’s different,” he pointed out. For starters, it was for charity. 

 

“Whatever you say.”

 

Thea had turned back to her morning arrangements, not even giving his denial the time of day as he looked down at the containers she’d passed him. 

 

_ Well, here goes nothing. _

 

\--

 

“Felicity Smoak.”

 

She almost jumped out of her seat as Oliver announced his presence. She was so lost in the computer in front of her that she didn’t notice he was there until he’d spoken. It had given him his first opportunity to see her in her own space, rather than his. Her desk was littered with colourful little items that served no purpose other than to spread a little more joy into her day. Framed on the corner of her desk a scan photo the same as the one she had shown him before. It was sweet, he thought, that her desk photo was of her babies. Hs smile only grew when he realised that in a few short weeks, those photos would be replaced with ones of her newborns.

 

When she’d noticed him at last, she’d gone wide-eyed as she made the connection. It was a near miss to stop her spilling a glass of water across her keyboard as she turned to face him properly, spinning her chair around. 

 

“Oliver, hi. What are you doing here?” she spluttered, trying to recover nonchalantly and failing. 

 

He held out the box that Thea had prepared. “You didn’t stop by this morning, I didn’t want you to miss the best batch of Caramel Swirls.”

 

Her head dropped back a little but she didn’t break eye contact with him. “You’re an angel. I need this so badly.”

 

He passed the cardboard box into her hands, watching as she eagerly opened it and swiped out a cupcake. Her morning routine really must have been dictated around her stop off at his bakery if she dove into the box so readily. “There’s a few extra in here if you wanted to share them around. And I left some coffees with the girls on the front desk.” With a wink that he didn’t think through, and regretted instantly until she blushed, he placed a styrofoam cup on her desk. “The hot chocolate is for you, though.”

 

The blush stayed on her cheeks, and something about those rosy cheeks made his chest flutter. “You’re my favourite,” she declared.

 

And then he held her gaze for a few moments. They just smiled at each other. It wasn’t anything spectacular. There weren’t fireworks or magical sensations. It was just...normal. It was his new normal. It had been for a long time. He felt like he’d been bringing her coffee at her desk for his entire life, even though it was his first time witnessing her in her, he supposed, natural habitat. She was looking up at him with a smile he knew as well as he did the recipe for his Strawberry Surprise. He wanted to see that smile every day, and the morning he was robbed of he’d found himself here in her office because he wanted to see it every day, wanted to see her every day, for the…

 

...yeah, for the rest of his life.

 

Gulpin at his revelation, he cleared his throat, tapping his fingers against the edge of her desk. “Anyway, I don’t want to distract you from work if you’re busy,” he told her, glancing around her office again, anything to try and dampen the desire to lean down and kiss her. Because that was a thing that he wanted to do now. “If you need a top up for the afternoon, let me know and I’ll bring something over.”

 

She merely raised an eyebrow at him, leaning back more comfortably in her chair as her free hand ran over her rounded stomach. “You’re doing house calls now?”

 

“Only for my very best customers.” That wink was back again. He hadn’t winked at a girl since high school. What was he doing?

 

“I’m flattered,” she said, before she scratched at her temple awkwardly. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Thea, mentioned the other day that you’ve been having trouble with the wifi.”

 

Ah. The wifi. “Yeah, some people who sit near the window have trouble connecting to it,” he nodded.

 

Her face brightened. “I can fix that, if you want,” she offered.

 

“Oh, it’s no big deal,” he replied with a wave of his hand. “We just tell them to sit near the back if they want the good signal.”

 

“Really, it’s an easy fix,” she insisted. “Consider it a thank you for the cribs.”

 

He instantly shook his head. “You don’t have to thank me for that.”

 

“Friends help friends, right?” she pointed out, as that had been his original justification for helping with the cribs in the first instance.

 

Surrendering to her point, he let his lips curve in agreement. “I guess so.”

 

“So I’ll stop by as you’re closing up tonight?” she suggested. “It won’t take long, don’t worry.”

 

“Take as long as you need to,” he assured her, not at all disappointed at the idea of staying later than closing time if it meant that he got to spend some with Felicity. “ I’ll have a hot chocolate waiting.”

 

“See you then.”

 

“See you then.”

 

\--

 

“Oh, God, is that...is that a  _ smile _ ?”

 

“Stop it,” Oliver told his sister as he moved back behind the counter, grabbing the waist-level apron and tying it back around his hips where it had been earlier that morning. 

 

“An actual real smile?” she continued tauntingly. “Ollie, you’ve got it  _ bad _ .”

 

He did. He knew that now. That much was obvious from the way he couldn’t go about his working day until he’d seen her, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that he couldn’t do anything about it. She was carrying another man’s kids, and the last thing she needed was another man hitting on her. She’d said several times it was nice having her undivided attention on her babies and not fussing around with her ex as well, so Oliver had no intention of causing any unwanted distractions for her.

 

Even if he really wanted to. He really wanted to distract her. He wanted to make her smile and blush and laugh every single day. And more than that, he was starting to wonder if her little boy would have her smile, and if her daughter would inherit her laugh. He wasn’t sure when he started thinking so much about her babies, but they were there, always, in his mind alongside Felicity.

 

“You can finish early today,” he told Thea. 

 

Thea leaned her hip against the counter, looking away from a lingering customer and focusing all her attention on him. “Are you getting rid of me early so she can come over?” she asked.

 

“She’s coming to fix the wifi,” he defended.

 

At that, she just smirked. “Want me to break it properly so she stays here longer?”

  
“That’s not funny.”


	8. April

Thursday mornings had never been Felicity’s favorite, that was one of the things Oliver first learned about her. They were too close to Friday’s, which was almost tauntingly close to the weekend and yet still so far away. She always entered with a mild grumble, and left in a far better mood with several cupcakes in hand, but on this particular Thursday she looked especially unhappy.

 

Oliver saw her leaning one hand against the top of the cake display, her face twisted in a mild grimace with her free hand planted on her lower back. “Hey, usual?”

 

“Please,” she nodded, and it sounded as though she were replying through gritted teeth. She certainly sounded uncomfortable.

 

He frowned. “Everything okay?”

 

She snapped her attention up to him at last. Straightening her back with a deep release of breath, Felicity forced a smile in his direction. “Hmm?”

 

“Your face is doing that crinkly thing…” he pointed out, waggling his fingers over his forehead. That was something else he’d noticed about her. 

 

“Oh,” she waved her hand, brushing his concern aside. “Babies are moving around a lot today.”

 

“That’s not the face you usually make,” he recalled. Usually there was a small wince with a grumble that she liked her bladder where it was, and not emptied on the floor of wherever she stood. Carrying two babies was even more uncomfortable that she’d planned for, with the two little Smoak’s fighting for space inside her belly. 

 

She went to reply when her entire face seemed to crumple and she stopped, leaning forward against the counter again. Time she released a small moan, clamping her teeth down on her lip. A few of the customers nearby gave her a cautious look, and one even stepped away. That wasn’t discomfort, that was pain, that was...

 

Oliver’s eyes widened as he rushed around the counter. “Whoa... _WHOA_!” he exclaimed, placing his hand beside hers on her lower spine. “Are you in _labor_?” he half choked out.

 

“I don’t know,” she groaned, slamming her eyes closed. “I’ve never been in labour before.”

 

He immediately took her bag off her arm, sliding it over hers so she wasn’t weighted down by anything more than necessary. After a few pained groans, she straightened a little more, but he didn’t move his hand. He waited until she’d steadied herself with a few careful breaths before he rubbed his hand up and down. “Hey, look at me,” he told her quietly. “You should go to the hospital.”

 

She shook her head quickly, looking down away from him. “I _can’t_.”

 

“Felicity-”

 

“I’m not _ready_ ,” she told him, and he could hear the frightened tears building in her voice. “I’m not ready for them to be here yet.”

 

“Who’s going to be at the hospital with you?” he asked, ready to search through her phone and call whoever he needed to.

 

“No one,” she murmured.

 

“You don’t have a birth partner?”

 

“I don’t have _anyone_.”

 

No wonder she was terrified. He knew that, really, he wasn’t sure why he’d asked, but he’d assumed all this time that one of her friends, possibly one from work, would be with her at the hospital when the time came. She always mentioned Caitlin a lot, so he’d just assumed…

 

God, he’d never imagined that she’d planned to do this alone. But her family was so far away, and there was no way that her mother could get here in time if she needed to fly in. And now she was in labour, about to give birth to two babies that would need her and love her and she was all alone. 

 

He couldn’t let her be alone. 

 

“Okay, “he decided, looking up behind the counter and finding his colleague. “John,” he called once over the customers to get his attention. “John, I’m going to take Felicity to the hospital. Are you okay here?” he asked.

 

He waited for John’s nod, and then started to lead Felicity outside, letting her divert her grap from the counter edge to his free hand. The other never left her back.

 

“Oliver, you don’t have to-” she started, but he cut her right off.

 

“Come on, we’ll take my car.”

 

\---

 

Oliver remembered being at the hospital when his sister was born, having to wait outside in the hall with his father and waiting for his grandmother to arrive. He remembered being bored, thinking babies were stupid, and wondering what all that screaming was really for. Now, on the inside of a maternity ward, sat at Felicity’s side as they waited to be told she could be moved to a delivery suite, he understood what all that screaming was for.

 

After four hours, they’d given her an epidural to manage her pain, and with the only other occupant of the ward now taken on for delivery, it left the two of them in the most peaceful moment of their day. She’d told him between her earlier contractions that she’d been up since the early hours with back pain and the contractions had started around dawn. Her water had broken shortly after they arrived at the hospital, so her hope of being sent home with false labor wasn’t being fulfilled. She wasn’t leaving the hospital now until her babies were born.

 

“You didn’t have to do this,” she murmured, turning her head to the side so she could see where he sat beside her.

 

“I wanted to,” he replied easily. It wasn’t a lie to make her feel better. Being here with her felt right, and her not being alone felt even better.

 

“You wanted to sit in the hospital with me and waste your day?” she laughed weakly, showing just how exhausted she was. The doctor had told her to try and get some sleep now that the epidural was helping manage the pain, so that she would have more energy for the delivery.

 

He leaned in, taking her hand just as he had done through the contractions, but this time it wasn’t a show of support. This time he lingered, he looped his fingers around hers, running his thumb along the inside of her palm (which was soft, he could never believe how soft her skin was). “Felicity,” he whispered softly. “You’re going to be a mom today.”

 

Despite her exhaustion and the fear of becoming just that, she couldn’t hold back the smile. Yes, she was overwhelmed at the idea of raising two babies without their father, but she’d been so excited to finally meet them. He’d been able to tell early on that she was so in love with them before she’d even fully seen their faces. All it had taken for her to adore them was that sonogram with two sets of feet that she’d grown and nurtured and loved.

 

Her face twisted slightly. “Are you _sure_ this isn’t weird for you?” she asked.

 

“Felicity…” he started, ready to assure her for the twentieth time that he wasn’t going anywhere.

 

“I mean, I am totally naked from the waist down and it’s awkward, I get it…” she rambled.

 

He bit back a laugh, clamping down on his lower lip. “I hear it’s a requirement for childbirth that you don’t have underwear on.”

 

“I didn’t want the first time you saw me naked to be like... _this_ ,” she gestured to her mismatched fuzzy socks and very unflattering maternity gown. No sooner had she done so, she winced and her cheeks flushed bright red. “Not that I’ve been thinking about you seeing me naked.”

 

Oliver couldn’t hold back his smirk at that. “You definitely have.”

 

Her free hand came up to cover her face. “As if this wasn’t awkward enough already…”

 

There was a fluttering in his stomach again, the one that he always felt when something she did struck him directly in the chest. He took a deep breath, and raised the hand in his grasp up to his lips, grazing them against her knuckles. “Felicity...I _want_ to stay,” he told her when her eyes met his. “I don’t think it’s weird.”

 

She still looked hesitant, her eyes firm on his. “You _really_ don’t think this is weird?”

 

With another breath, he shook his head. “Well, I think I’ve fallen in love with you, and I don’t think that makes it weird to want to stay,” he confessed with somewhat more confidence than he realized he had when it came to her. “Because I plan on sticking around for a while, and I’m really excited to meet these little guys too.”

 

She made a sound halfway between a choke and a laugh, moving her hand out of her grasp and placing it over his cheek. She’d never done that before, and he allowed himself to lean into her palm, turning to place a kiss right in the centre of it. “Oliver…” she whispered, completely at a loss for words.

 

“If that’s okay with you?” he asked.

 

With a watery smile, she nodded. “Yeah, it’s okay. It’s _so_ okay.”

 

His smile only grew, and he lifted himself out of his chair so that he could kiss her properly. He’d been waiting to kiss her for so long. He couldn’t even remember the first time he’d wanted to pull her closer to him and brush his lips over hers. Their first kiss was slow, searching, and with the looming contraction threatening to tear them apart from their new intimacy, they didn’t let the kiss develop into anything they couldn’t control, but _oh_ , how he wanted to. The touch of her lips seared heat through his entire body, assuring him that every single morning he’d waited to see her bright smile had been so worth it. 

 

When they parted, her hand was back on his cheek, mirroring his own. He could tell her freely now; tell her that she was beautiful, that he couldn’t stop thinking about her, that he wanted to hold her, kiss her, laugh with her, be with her every moment of his day. 

 

He could do that now.

 

But right now they had something far more pressing to do.

 

“So let’s have these babies, shall we?”

 

\----

 

Emma Smoak was born in time with closing time at Queen’s Cupcakes. She arrived in the world as calmly and soft-disgruntled as her mother on a Thursday morning. Her brother, Aiden, arrived just minutes later with a wail fair more distinctive than his elder sibling. Both were born with a full head of dark blonde hair, deep newborn-blue eyes and their mother’s nose. 

 

Oliver took photos on both his own and Felicity’s cell phones, he’d already had a storage warning on his own phone after the endless photographs of the twins being cleaned up, and now he didn’t want to risk missing a photograph of Felicity with a baby in each arm. Despite being more exhausted than she could even explain, she’d been staring down at her newborns with such a proud adoration for the last ten minutes.

 

“They’re so _small_ ,” Oliver repeated for the eighth time since they’d been born just an hour ago. 

 

“I can’t believe these were _inside_ me,” she agreed. Holding them against her torso made it impossible to believe they’d been inside her stomach just a few hours ago. 

 

She shifted slightly, trying to get settled comfortably without exacerbating the pain below her waist. Oliver was straight on hand, holding on his arms to help her. “Here, let me…” 

 

They clumsily (it was far harder than it looked at first) shifted the babies around until Emma was resting in Oliver’s arms, which freed Felicity up to get comfortable while allowing Aiden to keep sleeping against her chest. The moment he’d found her heartbeat, he’d fallen straight to sleep. “Thanks.”

 

Emma, on the other hand, was far more curious. Her eyes had barely closed since she’d opened them fully and looked at her mother for the first time, and Oliver couldn’t stop his heart flipping up into his throat when she gaze up at him properly for the first time. She was even smaller in his arms than she’d seemed in Felicity’s, so tiny and precious, he was afraid to look away in case anything might happen to her. 

 

He adjusted her pink blanket so it wasn’t quite as tight around her, and one of her hand shot out, grasping his finger with her tiny digits and oh, he just fell in love. That was it. Instant love. This little Smoak could have his entire heart and anything else he could offer. “Hi, little cupcake,” he whispered to her.

 

“Oh, she likes you,” Felicity grinned up at him from her bed.

 

He raised his eyes to meet her, smiling back at her. “Well, you’re stuck with me now,” he pointed out. “It looks like they’ve decided to keep me.”

 

“I’ve decided to keep you too,” she nodded.

 

He just kept smiling at her. However they managed to make it work, he didn’t care. He didn’t care about the hows or the reasons, he just wanted to be with them. Right here, in a delivery suite with one of her children in his arms, he felt more at home in the bakery he’d grown from the very first cupcake. They’d make it work however they could, and they’d be happy. He was certain of that.

 

The nurse that the doctor had arranged to come and assist Felicity with breastfeeding finally arrived, and she threw Oliver as smile as she came up to Felicity’s side. “Is this the father?” she asked with a supportive smile. Oliver assumed she’d met with Felicity during the pregnancy when she’d been at her appointments alone.

 

Felicity looked to Oliver with widened eyes, uncertain what to say, but Oliver just nodded, adjusting the cooing baby in his arms. 

  
“If she’ll have me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the babies are here, and with that, the most our tale is done!
> 
> There's an epilogue left to come, which will be posted early on WEDNESDAY (on account of going on holiday for the Easter weekend) so I hope you'll all tune in for that :)
> 
> For those who aren't aware, my UN's have changed on twitter and tumblr to @ghostfoxlovely and ghostfoxlovely.tumblr.com!


	9. May

“Do you think we’re doing this too fast? Moving in together?”

 

“Do you think we’re doing this too fast? Having two kids together?”

 

Felicity leaned back against the counter of Queen’s cupcakes. These days, she frequented the other side of the counter, particularly when it came to sneaking one of her coveted daily cupcakes. They were her saving grace between attempting to care for two babies at the same time. But this morning they were in the bakery at dawn, while Emma and Aiden slept in their brand new bedroom upstairs (previously Oliver’s unused guest room). 

 

They’d been sifting through boxes for two days from Felicity’s studio apartment, and between Oliver checking on the bakery below them and getting interrupted by the twins, they’d only managed to get the nursery organised. Oliver had only made three comments about how they should have gotten together sooner so he didn’t have to dismantle and reassemble the cribs, but she’d managed to quiet him with a kiss. She could do that now. Kissing was a thing they did - a lot.

 

“Oliver, I’m serious,” she told him with a sigh.

 

He turned to her, dropping both his hands to her hips. “In both our defence, we don’t really have a choice about moving in together.”

 

“Well-”

 

“Your place isn’t big enough for the four of us. Mine is,” he pointed out simply. Once the twins had arrived, the studio quickly overflowed with baby clothes. “And it’s convenient for both our jobs,” he added, with a nod of his head towards the office across the street where Felicity would return to after her maternity leave.

 

“I can’t believe how much stuff these babies need,” she sighed again. 

 

“Well, there are two of them,” he nodded.

 

Biting her lip, she looked up at him warily. “Are you _really_ sure about this?” she checked.

 

“Yes. I’m really sure,” he replied quickly, drawing her closer so they were pressed tightly enough that the kiss was inevitable. “I want us to all be together.”

 

“I want that too,” she smiled. Now, when she smiled, he could feel it against his own lips. That was far better than spotting her smile across a crowded room.

 

“Think how close you are to all those cupcakes,” he added with a teasing whisper.

 

Felicity laughed, her breath ghosting over his lips. “Nothing to stop me sneaking down and grabbing a free one.”

 

“Nothing stopped you doing that before the babies were born.”

 

“Yes, but you did have a thing for me, so….” she teased.

 

He pulled back slightly, giving her his most dramatic shocked expression. “Who told you?”

 

“Don’t worry, it was a very well kept secret. I only guessed because I’m amazing,” she assured him, planting a quick kiss on him.

 

“You are amazing,” he agreed, sliding his arms around her torso as his lips met hers again, this time drawing her into a deeper kiss that had her moaning against his tongue. One day he was going to go further than this. He was going to make her moan in other ways, and they were going to explore parts of each other that they’d not been able to yet, but her doctor hadn’t given her clearance, and frankly, her body deserved the rest after growing and birthing two humans.

 

She pulled back, tapping her hand over his heart. “Hey, before the kids wake up…”

 

“Which should be any second,” he realised with an upward glance at the ceiling. “This silence is so frightening.”

 

“I know, right? They _never_ sleep at the same time.”

 

“I didn’t want to say because the idea was truly horrifying, but I _think_ they’ve been forming an alliance,” he murmured quietly.

 

“Well we need to get ahead of the game, because if we’re not prepared, they’ll destroy us.”

 

“They’re already on to me.”

 

“Be strong,” she encouraged him. “We can win this.”

 

He just smiled at her determination. “Anyway, you were saying something…?”

 

“Oh, yes,” she remembered, getting back on track with her thoughts. “Well, it just occured to me that with how crazy everything has been since the twins were born, that I never got to thank you,” she told him.

 

His head tilted slightly. “For what?”

 

“Everything,” she breathed. “For the cupcakes, for every morning, for...we hardly knew each other, and I had no one, but you were there for me no questions asked,” she pointed out tearfully. Her hormones were still getting the better of her most days. “You kept me sane when I was going out of my mind, and if I didn’t have you, I’d probably have moved back to Vegas to be with my mom.”

 

“Felicity…”

 

“Thank you for being there,” she said quietly, sliding her hand to rest over his heart, the same heart that had welcomed her and her children in without a second thought. “Thank you for building a family with me when I thought any hope of one had fallen apart.”

 

He shook his head, gathering her in tightly against his chest so she was tucked under his chin. “You were the one who gave me a family, Felicity,” he told her.

 

“I want you to know that even when the kids are screaming and there are diapers everywhere and we haven’t slept in two days...I’m always going to be grateful that my kids are growing up with a dad who loves them,” she added, and that still made his stomach flip. Every time she passed a baby to him with an effortless ‘time to go to Daddy’, his heart melted for them all over again.

 

“I’m _always_ going to be there for them,” he kissed the top of her head. “ _And_ you.”

 

“And we love you for it.”

 

As far as they were concerned, Emma and Aiden would never know that their father ran out on them at the very beginning, because Oliver was going to be around. He was going to be their father, and it had taken some time for Felicity to believe him when he said it, but even if they didn’t work out as a couple, she was still his friend and he would be there for the children. It was a responsibility he took on the moment his name was written on their birth certificates, and he wasn’t going to be the kind of man who wasn’t around for his kids.

 

“I love you,” he murmured against her hair. 

 

“Love you.”

 

No sooner had they fallen into a peaceful silence, the baby monitor on the counter behind them erupted with dual cries. They were good at bursting into unhappy cries in the same instance, particularly when they were hungry. Felicity stepped out of his arms, picking the monitor up and turning the volume down slightly. “Okay, that’s my cue for a feed.”

 

“I better get this place opened up,” he agreed, glancing up at the clock. Before she moved for the stairs, he pulled her back for one last kiss. “I’ll be up in my break.”

 

“If the kids are co-operating, I’ll bring them down for a while,” she told him. “See Daddy in action.”

 

“Well, take a vanilla muffin with you,” he told her, taking one of the fresh ones out of the display unit and handing it to her on a napkin. 

 

“You’re the best,” she chirped.

 

And with a quick kiss to his cheek, Felicity disappeared upstairs. Oliver followed her with his eyes until she was completely out of sight. The Smoak family had ingrained themselves on his heart with no way out, and have loved each of them. He loved how much Emma followed his voice when he spoke, and how Aiden always borrowed his head right in the crevice of his neck when Oliver held him. He loved them when they were cranky and sleep deprived, when they were somehow still awake in the middle of the night, and even through the endless diapers of Week Three of being a parent.

 

He loved them even more at 10.22am, when Felicity set them on the table next to the counter in the car seats, wearing those onesies he’d designed for her baby shower gift. His VIP customers getting all the attention, just as they deserved, while their mother stood proudly as she listened to how perfect everyone said their children were.

 

Their children. Their son and daughter. Their family.

 

Felicity’s eyes met his across the bakery just as they had done the first day she’d ordered a Caramel Swirl and he’d given her a loyalty card she could get stamped to get her 10th cupcake free. She’d humored him then. She loved him now.

 

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.


End file.
